Ili Rebellion

The Ili Rebellion was a Soviet-backed Muslim revolt against the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China that was fought from 1944 to 1949. In 1934, the Soviet Red Army invaded and occupied the Xinjiang region after supporting a rebellion by the Muslim Uyghurs, and the Soviets assisted Xinjiang leader Sheng Shicai in crushing a KMT-backed Muslim rebellion in 1937. Soviet troops were stationed in the Xinjiang oases into World War II, and the KMT gained the support of Ma clique leader Ma Bufang before swaying Sheng to take sides against the USSR, which had been defeated several times by Nazi Germany. Sheng expelled all Soviet troops from Xinjiang in 1942, and KMT soldiers moved into the Xinjiang region to occupy it. In 1944, the Soviets backed a rebellion against the KMT, assisting in the formation of the Second East Turkistan Republic. The Muslim rebels took part in massacres of Chinese civilians and fought against the KMT with the aid of Soviet Army military personnel and several militarized anti-communist Russian exiles, and many Russian settlers fighting for the republic were killed. In 1949, a ceasefire was declared, and a coalition government was formed between the KMT and the rebels; later that year, Xinjiang was incorporated into the communist People's Republic of China.